[New post] ‘They Happen To Be Our Neighbors Across the Span of a Century, But They’re Our Neighbors.’

Adam Morgan posted: "Adam Morgan | Longreads | June 2019 | 10 minutes (2,587 words)   Precisely one hundred summers ago, at least 165 people were killed in "race riots" against black Americans in cities ranging from Washington, D.C. to Bisbee, Arizona. The bloodiest " New post on Longreads 'They Happen To Be Our Neighbors Across the Span of a Century, But They're Our Neighbors.' by Adam Morgan Adam Morgan | Longreads | June 2019 | 10 minutes (2,587 words)   Precisely one hundred summers ago, at least 165 people were killed in "race riots" against black Americans in cities ranging from Washington, D.C. to Bisbee, Arizona. The bloodiest conflict of that "Red Summer" unfolded on the South Side of Chicago between July 27 and August 3. It started at the 29th Street Beach, where a white man threw rocks at black swimmers and killed a 17-year-old boy named Eugene Williams. Over the next few days, 38 people were killed and more than 500 were injured as roving gangs of white men terrorized Chicago's Black Belt. "Chicagoans tend to be enthusiastic and vocal discussants of our own history," Eve Ewing writes in the introduction to 1919, her second book of poetry. "But 1919 didn't seem to make it into the timeline alongside titanic stories about Fort Dearborn, Jean-Baptiste Point du Sable, the World's Columbian Exposition, the 1968 riots, Richard J. Daley, or Harold Washington." So Ewing — the poet of Electric Arches, the scholar of Ghosts in the Schoolyard, the comic book writer of Marvel's Ironheart, the playwright of No Blue Memories, and arguably the most powerful cultural voice in Chicago over the past five years — set about telling the story of 1919 in a characteristically clever way. Flecked with historical photos and evocative quotes from a post-riot commission report, filled with biblical and mythological references, seamlessly bending time and genre, 1919 is an unforgettable conversation-starter. Every poem leaves a bruise. Read more of this post Adam Morgan | June 12, 2019 at 7:00 am | Tags: African-American, black history, Books, Chicago, interviews, poetry, race | Categories: Books, Crime, culture, History, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story | URL: https://wp.me/p4KhvY-wJe Like Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Longreads. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://longreads.com/2019/06/12/interview-with-eve-ewing/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com